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The Dainty Dinosaur That’s Rewriting Evolutionary History

New alvarezsaur fossil offers a Cretaceous missing link

These Bacteria Beat Cancer By Eating Cancer

They’re being engineered to devour tumors from the inside out

How Three Students Designed an Atomic Bomb

A top-secret 1960s project tasked physics postdocs with building The Bomb

Laughing Off Your Mistakes Makes You Seem More Competent

“People often overestimate how harshly others judge their minor social mistakes”

Is a Strictly Enforced Fishing Ban Saving the Yangtze?

Ecologists detect promising, early signs of river recovery

The Long, Dirty History of Our Capitol’s Waters

The recent Potomac River disaster follows centuries of pollution—but things are looking up

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The Thrill of Science in 2042

A science historian explains how science got its groove back. A fictional dispatch from the future.

How Energy Politics Played Out on the White House Roof

The quick removal of Jimmy Carter’s futuristic solar panels echoes more recent feuds over renewables

The Missing Pieces of the Donner Party Narrative

People have only recently included Indigenous voices in the story

Reality Exists Without Observers? Boooo!

Why I don’t root for the Many Worlds team

No More Tears? Scientists Take a Keen Eye to Onion Slicing

New research sheds light on a familiar problem, with important implications for food safety

Can We Protect Science?

It was a burning question at the World Economic Forum last week

What Would Richard Feynman Make of AI Today?

The scientific sage was always suspicious of grand promises delivered before details were understood

The Vibes Have Been Off in the US for Decades

New survey analysis reveals a sense of national deterioration

Does Belief in God, not Political Party, Drive Conservatism?

Religious “nones” may be less socially liberal than they used to be

Parachute Science Continues to Prevail in Global South Biodiversity Studies

The privilege of describing new species is skewed to Global Northerners

Koalas Recover Genetic Diversity as Populations Expand

Their rebound shows resilience after a severe genetic bottleneck

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Watch How Planet-Hopping Microbes Can Survive Asteroid Strikes

This polyextremophile bacterium could survive an interplanetary trip

When Scientists Are Dinosaurs 

At the paleontology conference, her new theory was shouted down

World’s Largest Acid Geyser Erupts, Right in Our Backyard

Yellowstone National Park is home to the world’s most impressive geysers

Watch How Water Bears Can Survive in Martian Dirt

There’s a way for the tiny resilient creatures to thrive even on the red planet

How Human Is Human?

The robot pioneer who gets under our skin

Doing Science and Philosophy On Drugs

Justin Smith-Ruiu takes a philosophical and first-person look at psychedelics